TECHNOLOGY

Browsing The Future

Mozilla's Firefox gave Microsoft a run for its money. What's next?

By Nick Summers and Barrett Sheridan | Newsweek Web Exclusive
Mar 5, 2009

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  • Posted By: MichaelX @ 03/10/2009 9:27:21 AM

    Maybe you should not go to sites that have so much junk in them. Technology is why people are so apethetic.
    "What's next?" is all you think about. Go play outside.

  • Posted By: bighappy @ 03/06/2009 7:57:51 PM

    Firefox is great. But It is still not clear for me, how it hurts Microsoft. IE is free, Microsoft does not get profit from it.
    I am not Microsoft big fan, but do you remember how it was 10+ years ago when you had to pay $70 for Netscape Navigator? Thanks to Microsoft, it costs 0 now, they keep the promice never to charge for IE.

  • Posted By: GuiasLocal @ 03/06/2009 3:05:43 PM

    The new browser that will change the way we search is being created I'm sure by some kids in a dorm hacking Mozilla and chrome. It is interesting that the browser market is so competitive. I remember the days that Alexa ran the gauntlet of the browser toolbar. Now personal tool bars are pretty much dead. An internet company needed the Alexa toolbar r to show might. How times have changed.

  • Posted By: Dave in NM @ 03/06/2009 12:06:16 PM

    Has anyone seen anything to like about Chrome? I love all things Google (e.g. Earth, Picasa), but Chrome? I see nothing about it that makes it stand out, and it doesn't have much of what recommends even IE, let alone FF. It just seems archaic. Aside from the mid-'90s nostalgia, I am just not feeling it. Not to mention the fact that, after using FF with Adblock for years, I'm always startled to see otherwise familiar pages larded down with ads (though I guess perhaps I shouldn't call too much attention to that little bonus on a site that is, no doubt, ad-supported [but I wouldn't know, 'cause I don't see 'em]).

  • Posted By: sieg6529 @ 03/06/2009 10:10:32 AM

    I love Firefox, but too many add-ons and it takes forever to start.

    • Posted By: Dave in NM @ 03/06/2009 11:44:55 AM

      I agree with Captain Tripps. I configure my FF far differently from the way I configure my wife's. I use all the development tools, plus Re-Pagination, IETab, etc., while she, who would never use those, gets by with a leaner set of extensions (including the notifier for her Yahoo mail) - if you're so concerned about startup times (which I find to be quite reasonable on even a moderately robust machine), just strip down to a basic install - you still have everything IE gives you, plus a lightning-fast startup. Problem solved! Firefox is king!!

    • Posted By: CaptainTripps @ 03/06/2009 10:33:43 AM

      Starts faster than IE. And the apps are optional, you install what you want. It's like saying the grocery store has too many brands of cereal. Only if your trying to buy them all. I started using FF about 6 months ago, and I'm addicted, can't imagine going back to IE now.

  • Posted By: Armysniper89 @ 03/06/2009 10:52:09 AM

    IE 7 is a much better product. I use both because I am a developer and unfortunately both dont display pages the same way. Unfortunately, until IE 7, neither display them the right way. They make shortcuts they allow errors in page design to be ignored. Web designers need to start making pages to standards and then we dont have to worry about deltas between products. :)

    • Posted By: Dave in NM @ 03/06/2009 11:35:53 AM

      I have yet to see a single thing about any version of IE that I prefer to Firefox (OK, two - I prefer IE's mousewheel / center-click implementation, and I like IE's CSS capabilities [e.g. colored scrollbars]). From a surfing and from a web development perspective, Firefox simply stomps IE into the ground. I have development-specific extensions that greatly streamline the process (e.g. code verification, color-picker, ftp), and browsing capabilities Microsoft couldn't implement if it tried (Adblock? NEVER gonna happen - I doubt MS will ever even allow Re-Pagination). I don't see you listing the aspects of IE that you prefer to Firefox - I would like to know, because I used to love IE back in the 4.X - 5.X days, but in my mind, now that there's Firefox, I need never launch IE again. Besides - if I need it for something, I just run it in a tab with IETab. ;^)

  • Posted By: Ananias @ 03/06/2009 11:16:38 AM

    Been using Firefox for several years and never plan to go back to IE, except in rare occasions when web designers neglect the 21 percent of Firefox users when coding. When that happens, though, thank Mozilla I only have to right-click and Firefox renders it into IE; no waiting for IE's ridiculously long startup time to view a site in a separate window.

    Best browser out there in terms of function and individualization as they care about their users' needs, not profits. What more could you ask for?

  • Posted By: kkb1963 @ 03/06/2009 10:24:27 AM

    I Love FIREFOX, nothing better or safer on the entire planet!!

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